Dude is becoming a dude. Real quick like. In a couple of weeks, instead of the years you lot get. He went from loving toddler to obnoxious boy in a matter of days.

Doing my fucking head in.

We still have the moments. But nearly every single day a new gain. A new development. A ‘nine year old boy’ moment. ‘Mummy’ is replaced with ‘Mum’. Kisses are ‘eww’. No more laying in bed cuddling, now a note on his door telling us to piss off.

Dear Family

Don’t open the door when I am alone in the rooms.

– Boo

It is like I have lost the boy I know. All of a sudden a kid, an obnoxious, typical, sniggering-at-the-dirty boy has entered my life.

But today I was brought back to earth.

Got to school. Walked into the classroom. Boo and his aide covered in blood.

Covered.

In.

Blood.

He pulled out another tooth.

A not-ready-to-be-liberated-from-his-body, tooth.

And that fucker bled like a… well a fucking lot. Boo oblivious. His aide and teacher dry retching. Cause they haven’t dealt with this before.

Me, on the other hand, oh yes. Lots of times.

The call to come and get him cause he has snapped off teeth and thrown them on the floor. Taking knives and pens off him cause he is using them as leverage. Bloody handprints on the walls. Bedding caked with blood.

Yes. I have been here before. (I have blogged about it, somewhere here…)

When I tried to talk to him about it, the blank look. The scripting talk. Nestled into me. Burying his face into my chest.

What you know becomes comfortable. I want the gains. I want him to grow and become more like his peers.

I have literally begged for these gains.

But Boo, slow the fuck down OK? Cause I don’t want start wishing for you to start pulling out more teeth so I can feel normal.

We wait and wait and wait for our babies to grow up and when they do we want our babies back again. Until they become our adult friends.

I’m also concerned about when Boo runs out of teeth. And what about his already missing teeth? How does he manage food? Do you have huge dental bills from constantly repairing or replacing teeth? Is he at all willing to go to the dentist?

You poor thing- at least you’re more level headed than a lot of autism parents! Boo sounds like a couple of autistic kids I knew from the ages of about 7 to 15. They seemed to be extremely bizarre and difficult to manage, didn’t learn much at school, couldn’t sit still in class and roamed around their homes day and night talking and yelling. Then by the time they were 10 to 12 they became much quieter- the opposite of “normal” kids; they said lots of naughty words in strange contexts, like yelling out “Fuck you” in the middle of the supermarket, yet could sit quite happily with me in the car while I drove them to brain function test appointments. It’s great they he can communicate in writing- that’s often a real hurdle. Anyway- interesting- I hope you survive his changing ways!

Wow Kelley, I’m not sure what to say. It’s so very hard to watch kids grow up, especially when it’s the times they get all bratty instead of more capable, but to be brought back to pre-brattiness by something like that tooth thing. Oy. Maybe the growing up quickly is hard on him too.

Wow. That pulling out of teeth is a bugger. Ouch! But, on the other hand – the gains – Oh, the gains. You know, there was a time when some forms of Autism were grouped into something called “Late Developing Brain Syndrome”. Because the kids with the ASD would be seen to progress through stages toward ‘normalcy’ – whatever that is. The key word, I suppose, is ‘toward’. And at time, the changes would be sudden. Very sudden.

Here’s to slowing down! And I think my 16-month old that can open child proof medicine bottles is wild! Hilarious that the teacher and aide were dry retching. Seriously folks, you’re going to see more than that! LOL.

Damn. I am bawling. Tears streaming, euyes welted, snotty nose. What the fuck? The tone of your post wasn’t depressing, but it REALLY hit a nerve that I didn’t even know I had. THanks a lot! Bubba is 8.5 and I don’t know how to live WITHOUT dysfunction. What am I going to do when he turns all teenage boy like? WHAAAAAAA.

Has he stood in front of the mirror and figured out that he can control the ‘old boy’? I caught my son around Boo’s age doing that…standing there saying “up”, “down”, “up”, ‘Down”, etc…he’s 24 now and I think he stills tells it, “up”, “down”…:P Teeth can be replaced..OY!

I’m so dreading my kids growing up! Why can’t they stay as babies? My young’fla grinds his teeth… he had a baby tooth ground down so low, it eventually dissapeared and nobody knows where it went! I was searching through his crappy nappies for days afterwards, so bummed we lost his first tooth. Will I have to screwdriver out the next ones?!?! The thought scares the bejeebus out of me.

Bwwwaaaaha. The teeth! So familiar, from so many seminars and from all the kids I know. That and the adolescent version — as Tony Attwood puts it: “Yes, they will *all* pull out the new pubic hairs..”
You have my greatest empathy; I hope he doesn’t wiggle the adult ones too hard (how neurotypical is his pain threshold?).